GEORGIAN JUSTICE AGAINST SOROS
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| 20:14:05 | 04-10-2005 | Politics |
A public movement named Anti-Soros and aiming at struggle against
the projects financed by G. Soros has been formed in Georgia.
By the appeal of members of the initiative group Maya Nikoleishvili
G. Soros “controls everything in the republic, since he pays money
and even the parties, which are considered to be opposition, are
subordinate to Soros.”
Representatives of Justice party, Conservative Party, former Georgian
MPs serve on the initiative group.

VIOLATIONS DID IMPACT ELECTION
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| 20:01:59 | 04-10-2005 | Politics |
“The elections to the community council proceed more tensed that
the elections of the community heads”, chairman of It’s Your Choice
public organization Harutyun Hambartsumyan stated during a recurrent
press conference
The observers of the organization watched the election held on October
2 in all the 53 polling stations of Nor Nork community. Despite the
fact that Vardan Parsamyan has recalled his candidature, violations
were still fixed.
The only violation the observers did not fix was the filling of the
ballot-boxes with forged leafs.
The discontent is aroused by the new form of the cabins, the seals
put after the voting and the privileges of the empowered persons.
To note, the observers say that the falsifications did not impact
the outcomes of the election.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MEMBERSHIP FEE MUST BE PAID DURING 4 YEARS
Panorama
16:17 04/10/05
To become a member of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Armenia must
pay 8 million and 951 thousand dollars during 4 years.
“43% of total amount must be paid by cash, and 57% the government must
pay by bonds”, the International Financial Cooperation department of
MFE reported Panorama. am today.
The point is, that recently it’s spread an information concerning to
the above mentioned membership, that our country is obliged to buy
10.557 stock shares of ADB. Let us remind you that ADB stock shares
overall comprise 3.509.728 stocks equivalent to 51.6 milliard dollars.
According to International Financial Cooperation department, 7.3% of
10. 557 stocks (that is 742 stocks) must be invested in the capital
of ADB. So our country must pay only for that stocks. /Panorama.am/

STEPANAKERT LABELS ICG REPORT ‘PARTIAL AND PRO-AZERI’
By Tatoul Hakobian
AZG Armenian Daily #178
05/10/2005
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Karabakh issue
The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh commented last week on
International Crisis Group’s “Nagorno Karabakh: Viewing the Conflict
On the Ground” report published September 14. The Ministry’s comments
show that Stepanakert is not satisfied with the Group’s report.
Political analyst Davit Babayan, aide of NKR President, told daily Azg
that “the report is made in best interests of Azerbaijan. You have
an impression that the document was prepared by an Azeri ministry”
and “instead of approaching the day of regulation, the report had a
negative influence on the regulation process”. In Babayan’s opinion,
which is harmonious with the comments of Karabakh’s FAM, the report
makes an impression that Nagorno Karabakh is a militarized state
totally dependent on Armenia as well as it pictures Karabakh conflict
as a territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan that came
about as a result of Armenia’s aggression.
“A serious deficiency is that report passes in silence over the
fact that 90 per cent of Armenians became refugees as a result of
ethnic cleansings, pogroms and police’s castigations organized by
the Azerbaijani authorities in 1988-1991. Whereas 85 per cent of
the Azeris were compelled to leave their homes during the military
operations beginning from 1993. Besides, no force was applied to get
them out but they left with the retreating Azeri forces obeying Azeri
authorities’ order”, the statement of the NKR Foreign Ministry reads.
The report seems more pro-Azeri when considering the issue of refugees
and internally displaced persons (IDP). “The number of those Armenian
refugees that the authors claim to belong to the most suffered category
is curtailed by 35.000 (those are the IDPs from Shahumian, Martuni
and Martakert). This number of Armenian refugees is contrasted with
425.000 Azeri IDPs.
Favoritism towards Azerbaijan is obvious in figures too: the Azeri
refugees are mentioned 186 times whereas the Armenian ones only 40. The
Armenian refugees are often mentioned in negative context as illegal
inhabitants of Karabakh-controlled territories”.
“The first sentence of the report’s first chapter informs that ‘NK is
perhaps the most militarized society of the world’. Informing that NK
armed forces count 18.500 soldiers, the authors fail to mention that
Karabakh’s Defence Army is compelled to hold back the Azeri army of
40.000 on the opposite side of the border”, the Foreign Ministry’s
statement says.
Yet, Stepanakert sees the positive sides of the report too. It points
out particularly that Nagorno Karabakh has a point in claiming for its
independence, the Karabakh-controlled territories were not occupied
by Armenia and Azerbaijan’s claims of one and a half million IDPs
and claim of 20 per cent of Azeri territory being under Karabakh’s
control does not correspond with the reality. As negative aspects
of the report Stepanakert points out to the neglected interests
of Armenian refugees and IDPs, something that is a discrimination
from the non-governmental organization, the report contains threat
of resumption of military operations in the conflict zone, the
ICG does not recognize the borders of NKR and proceeds from the
Soviet administrative division, the authors tend to hold Armenia
and Azerbaijan equally responsible for the outbreak of the conflict
(this approach was used by the Soviet authorities in 1988-1991 opening
doors for Azerbaijan’s aggression against NKR).
The ICG will make public its second report, “Voices From the
Negotiation Table”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ATTEMPT TO REGULATE LOBBYING IN ARMENIA
By Tamar Minasian
AZG Armenian Daily #178
05/10/2005
Legislative Initiative on Discussion Table
The approval of the draft law on lobbying activities by the Armenian
Government on September 22 set in motion social discussions on
this issue.
The Armenian Government and UNDP organized discussion of the draft
law yesterday. In the first instance Ashot Abovian, deputy justice
minister and head of the draft workgroup, presented the draft law
and the work done. “The law will enable wider groups of the society
to protect their interests, to carry out lobbying activities or order
specialized persons/groups to do that”, the deputy minister said. He
assured that the law will mark a serious breakthrough in the country’s
jural practice.
Aramayis Kocharian, coordinator of Partnership for Open Society NGO,
said: “There are no shaped mechanisms to protect rights and interests
and no legislative guarantees for protection in Armenia. Given this
situation, adoption of a law that enforces protection of a person’s
interests can make the state officials or legislator consider only
advices of those engaged in lobbying activities neglecting interests
and proposals of the society, citizens and members of the business
environment”.
Hrayr Tovmasian, representative of “Democracy” NGO, said that lobbying
and the activities of companies engaged in lobbying are legislatively
regulated only in countries (USA, Canada) where there was a necessity
of official information on financial flows from lobbyists during
election campaigns. “If the law applies to NGOs then I should say
that this issue already has a legal stand as the NGOs present their
reports on financial operations”. The draft law, Mr. Tovmasian thinks,
does not clearly outline the borders of lobbying. The NGOs, which
influence the legislative body by their public discussions and social
arrangements, will in fact be considered lobbyists by the law. He
thinks that the important thing to do now is to specify the issue;
everything else is of technical handling.
All sides participating in the discussion expressed readiness to make
written suggestions for a perfect law.

‘EUROPEAN AUTONOMY’ FOR NOW
AZG Armenian Daily #178
05/10/2005
At a joint press conference with his Latvian counterpart the
Azerbaijani President stated that Nagorno Karabakh could get autonomy
with a status resembling those autonomies existing in Europe. President
Vaira Vike-Freiberga said on her part that Latvia holds to the European
Union’s stance over Karabakh issue. The Latvian President, who makes
official visits in the South Caucasian republics from October 3 to 8,
said that violation of sovereign state’s territorial integrity is a
worrisome factor.
The Latvian president’s visit will continue in Georgia today, and she
will head for Armenia on October 6. This is the second case in the last
two weeks that a female president visits Caucasus. The first female
leader to visit South Caucasus last week was Tarja Halonen of Finland.

MINISTER OF CULTURE AND STATE DANCE ENSEMBLE IN CYPRUS
By Ruzan Poghosian
AZG Armenian Daily #178
05/10/2005
Daily Azg’s special correspondent George Der Partogh informs that the
State Dance Ensemble of Armenia performed three concerts in Cyprus
within the frameworks of “Cypria-2005” international festival. Hovik
Hoveyan, minister of Culture of Armenia, accompanied the ensemble
during the visit. Chairman of the House of Representatives of Cyprus,
Demetris Kristofias, received the minister on Monday; later that
day he met with the head of the President’s Press Office, Marios
Karoyan. Speaking about warm Armenia-Cypriot relations, Hoveyan wished
that they deepened even more. Kristofias, on his part, thanked for
Armenia’s efforts in supporting Cyprus. In his statements after meeting
with Karoyan, culture minister touched on Armenian-Turkish relations
saying: “We have no feeling of vengeance towards the Turkish people
but we have to fight for the historic truth. We cannot put up with
the silence over the issue of the Armenian Genocide and the blood
that Armenians shed”.

MAMMADYAROV: AGREEMENT ON MINE CLEARING REACHED AT TALKS
Pan Armenian
04.10.2005 14:18
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An agreement on mine clearing was reached at
the talks over settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, stated
Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov. In his words, “mine clearing is a very
important process that will be a priority when Armenia liberates the
occupied territories.” He did not rule out for the recurrent meeting
with Vartan Oskanian to be held in Ljubljana within the framework of
the annual meeting of the OSCE Ministers November 3-4. Answering a
question on the opportunity to start work over a peaceful settlement,
E. Mammadyarov said, “We have to come to agreement over conceptual
matters yet,” reported Mediamax.

MOST AZERIS FOR SOLVING KARABAKH ISSUE BY FORCE
Pan Armenian
04.10.2005 10:58
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yesterday the information and analysis group of
the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) of Azerbaijan made public
the outcomes of a public opinion poll held October 1, reported APA
Azeri agency.
The poll included 2012 respondents, 1249 out of them being young
people, 515 – people of middle age, 338 – represented the elder. “Which
option of solution of the Karabakh issue you consider possible?” was
the question these people were asked. 51% of respondents were for
solution of the conflict by force, 32% preferred peaceful settlement
of the conflict. 17% found it difficult to answer the question.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

REPORTS ON KILLED AZERI SOLDIER FALSE
Pan Armenian
04.10.2005 12:58
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Defense Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic has denied Azeri media reports that “October 3 an Azeri
servicemen was killed in a skirmish with NKR Armed Forces.” The
reports are false and represent a purely propagandistic move aimed at
misleading the international community, NKR MOD Spokesperson Senor
Hasratyan. “Anti-Karabakh rhetoric has especially strengthened on
the threshold of the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan.
The Karabakh party abides by commitments to observe the cease-fire
regime.
The same cannot be said referring to the Azeri party,” S. Hasratyan
remarked, reported IA Regnum.